A state Supreme Court justice will rule this week on a lawsuit aimed to force the city’s comptroller to borrow the full amount of funds approved by Buffalo’s Common Council, but which the comptroller declined to do.
Justice Emilio Colaiacovo heard oral arguments in the lawsuit brought by Mayor Christopher Scanlon and Fillmore District Common Council Member Mitchell Nowakowski. While Colaiacovo said he would reserve judgment until he prepared a written decision by the end of this week, he broadly hinted he would side with the mayor’s office.
Before ending the court session, Colaiacovo expressed skepticism at the argument made by the attorney for Comptroller Barbara Miller-Williams. Miller-Williams said her role as a steward of the city’s finances gives her the discretion to override the mayor and Common Council’s capital projects budget.
Colaiacovo said Miller-Williams’ refusal to borrow for projects included in the city capital budget “does harm” to that process.
Buffalo Mayor Christopher Scanlon and Common Councilmember Mitchell Nowakowski have sued city Comptroller Barbara Miller-Williams over her refusal to borrow money already approved by the city.
After the court proceeding Monday, William Savino, the comptroller’s attorney, said he expects Colaiacovo to rule in favor of Scanlon’s office later this week, though he hopes the judge will reconsider after reviewing the materials they submitted.
“The judge hinted that he’s leaning toward the mayor’s position,” Savino said. “I think it’s very clear.”
The mayor and council members have maintained that the city charter empowers them to pass a capital spending plan, and it is the comptroller’s role to borrow the money through the municipal bond market.
But Miller-Williams relied on a clause in the charter that says her office “shall superintend” the finances of the city. She believes this language gives her the authority to decline to borrow money if she believes it would be irresponsible to do so.
Terrence Connors, the lawyer for Scanlon and Nowakowski, pointed to other language in the charter that says that the comptroller is “authorized and directed” to execute any borrowing included in a capital plan laid out by the capital budget passed by council resolution.
The fight over the comptroller’s refusal to bond for capital projects spilled out into public in August. That’s when a frustrated Scanlon held a press conference calling on the Miller-Williams to borrow for the projects. Scanlon stood alongside school board members, labor leaders and cultural institution leadership with projects included in the $110 million spending plan, which Scanlon had described as potentially transformative for the city. Scanlon said Miller-Williams’ refusal to borrow has held up many projects, and already has cost the city tens of millions of dollars because of rising construction costs, and the possibility of losing out on reimbursable projects.
Miller-Williams’ office has consistently pointed to the $28 million debt cap for the fiscal year set in her office’s five-year debt plan as a limit she would not exceed. The comptroller wanted to hold to this limit despite the Scanlon administration’s insistence that the long-term borrowing they sought included millions of dollars that will be reimbursed.
Included in the $110 million figure was more than $54 million for Buffalo Public School projects, because the school district no longer has the ability to issue bonds on its own. Another $27 million is in short-term borrowing for projects the city said are at least 95% reimbursable through state and federal programs.
Scanlon and Nowakowski sued this month, hoping that a court decision will force Miller-Williams to borrow, which would allow the city to lock in pricing in a building environment with rapidly rising costs, even if the actual construction cannot begin until 2026.
Miller-Williams announced last week that she did execute more than $29 million in short-term borrowing to fund 22 school district projects and three federally reimbursable street projects for the city.
Connors said he was “shocked” to learn that Miller-Williams had issued the bonds, given that they were due in court the next week to argue the lawsuit.
“Right in the middle of litigation and all of a sudden, after complaining about the problem with school reimbursement,” Connors said.
While the borrowing for this year has direct impacts for the cost of projects for the city, equally important is the impact it will have on capital budgets going forward.
Scanlon, who became acting mayor in October upon the resignation of former Mayor Byron Brown, will return to his South District Council seat at the beginning of the year.
He lost the Democratic primary to state Sen. Sean Ryan, now considered the favorite to win the general election as the party nominee in the heavily Democratic city. He is running against Republican James Gardner and independent Michael Gainer.
If Colaiacovo rules in favor of Scanlon and Nowakowski, it would likely deter Miller-Williams from declining to borrow for future capital budgets, should the new mayor and Council exceed her debt cap, which Scanlon and his lawyers describe as advisory and nonbinding.
Connors, in court, said that the debt cap set by the comptroller is her opinion and part of the process, but does not give her the power to override the decisions made by the mayor and Council.
“That doesn’t give her a veto,” he said. “That doesn’t give her a vote.”
Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox!
Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.
* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Justin Sondel
Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!
Your notification has been saved.
There was a problem saving your notification.
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Followed notifications
Please log in to use this feature
Log In
Don’t have an account? Sign Up Today